Time
This is an article about the general theme pertaining to the show. For specific dates of events referenced on the show, see Timeline. }} The passage of time was a recurring theme in Lost. Characters traveled in time coming and leaving the island, and skipped randomly through time over a series of episodes. Time also serves as a general recurring motif, with frequent references to time and appearances of clocks and watches. Non-linear narrative Lost consistently played with time by presenting events out of their chronological order. Initially, action alternated between current events on the island and pre-crash flashbacks. Later episodes featured extended flashbacks and flashbacks to on-island events. and Season 4 featured flash-forwards, and physical time-travel occurred in Season 5. In the final season, action alternated between on-island events and events from the characters' afterlife. Characters have also often experienced premonitions of future events. According to Damon Lindelof, LOST "has always been a little bit of a time-travel show" because of this non-linear storytelling. http://www.bullz-eye.com/television/interviews/2009/lost.htm Time travel }} The show first hinted at time travel in Desmond's consciousness traveled through time in and later, more explicitly, in In the following season, characters and the entire island travel physically through time. Time on the Island At Comic Con in '06, the following fan question was asked and answered, somewhat obliquely: In an interview, Cuse also dropped additional hints about the significance of timelines : Time's insignificance Charlie says the survivors are "positively made of time" soon after the crash, and Michael later says "time doesn't matter on a damn island." Richard tells Juliet she's "gonna be amazed at how time flies" on the island. When Colleen dies, Jack can't find a clock to mark the time of death. A message in the Room 23 film says "Only fools are enslaved by time and space." Time dilation Time on the Island appears to pass differently from time elsewhere. In experiments, objects traveling to and from the island have arrived at unexpected times, suggesting either time dilation or time travel. Clocks and watches Clocks form a recurring motif within the show. Mr. Paik sends Jin to deliver a Rolex watch, and Christian gives a Jack an heirloom watch in the mobisode called The Swan's countdown timer appears throughout Season 2, and alarm clocks appear in several scenes as character wake up. Ben consults a watch to see when to kill his father, and years later, he uses another to decide when to order Sayid, Jin and Bernard's deaths. Sent back in time, Desmond glances at a clock then visits Mrs. Hawking, whose shop is full of clocks. The temple uses a large hourglass. Other references to time Season 1 * Locke tells Walt: "Backgammon's the oldest game in the world. Archeologists found sets when they excavated the ancient ruins of Mesopotamia -- 5,000 years old. That's older than Jesus Christ." * Sayid tells the group that the distress signal has been repeating for "16 years and 5 months, that's the count." * Charlie updates the bandages to say LATE instead of FATE and the camera scans to Claire's belly. * Charlie tells Locke that he hasn't played his guitar in "Uh, 8 days, 11 hours, give or take." * Jack remarks about Adam and Eve's tattered clothing: "It takes 40 or 50 years for clothing to degrade like this." * Boone asks Locke whether they will be working on the Hatch for 4 months like Michelangelo on the Statue of David. * Locke remarks about the clothing on the skeleton in the jungle: "Normally clothing would completely decompose within 2 years, but this is high quality polyester -- could be 2 years, could be 10." * Kate's time capsule is her driving purpose in several of her actions as a fugitive. * Hurley says, "Twinkies keep for, like, 8000 years, man." * Hurley nearly missed the plane because the alarm clock in his hotel room stopped working. Explaining this to an Oceanic Airlines employee, Hurley says "I don't really get the whole time change thing." Season 2 * Jack says, "I've got time." * Locke organizes shifts of 6 hours to stay in the Swan. * The title of episode 7 is . * Ana Lucia tells Goodwin: "This knife's probably 20 years old. You don't see these anymore, yet here it is, on this island. Weird, huh?" * Michael was given three minutes with Walt; this was also the title of the episode. * Desmond tells Claire: "You're wasting your time, sister. I shot myself with that stuff every 9 days for 3 years." Season 3 * Ben asked Jack for "3 minutes" since he had only "27 minutes to live". * Juliet gives the exact length of her stay on the Island: 3 years, 2 months and 28 days. * The company name Mittelos is an anagram for "lost time". This was confirmed as being the plot-significant anagram to look out for in the 2/12/07 podcast. * The company that made the red paint that Desmond was using to paint the walls of his flat with was called "FUTURE" paint. * Kronos is a fictional company shown in an Easter Egg as an ad in the TV soccer game Desmond is watching. Kronos is a titan in Greek mythology, generally regarded as the god of time. Literary works * A Brief History of Time - Non-fiction book about astrophysics and theories on how the universe began (seen in Lost) * Watchmen - Graphic novel/comic book series that features a character who experiences time in a non-linear fashion (confirmed influence on Lost) * A Wrinkle in Time - Fictional book on time travel through tessaracts (seen in Lost) * Slaughterhouse-Five - Fictional book with a protagonist 'unstuck' in time * The Chronicles of Narnia - Fictional book where there is a time difference between Narnia and the real world References Category:Recurring Themes Category:Lists